Forever and a Day (1943)
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27% of users liked it
(83 ratings)
The 80-star cast of Forever and a Day would certainly not have been feasible had not most of the actors and production people turned over their salaries to British war relief -- a point driven home during the lengthy opening credits by an unseen narrator. The true star of the film is a stately old… More The 80-star cast of Forever and a Day would certainly not have been feasible had not most of the actors and production people turned over their salaries to British war relief -- a point driven home during the lengthy opening credits by an unseen narrator. The true star of the film is a stately old manor house in London, built in 1804 by a British admiral (C. Aubrey Smith) and blitzed in 1940 by one Adolf Hitler. Through the portals of this house pass a vast array of Britons, from high-born to low. The earliest scenes involve gay blade Lt. William Trimble (Ray Milland), wronged country-girl Susan (Anna Neagle), and wicked landowner Ambrose Pomfret (Claude Rains). We move on to a comic interlude involving dotty Mr. Simpson (Reginald Owen), eternally drunken butler Bellamy (Charles Laughton), and cockney plumbers Mr. Dabb (Cedric Hardwicke) and Wilkins (Buster Keaton). Maidservant Jenny (Ida Lupino) takes over the plot during the Boer War era, while the World War I sequence finds the house converted into a way-station for soldiers (including Robert Cummings) and anxious families (including Roland Young and Gladys Cooper). Finally we arrive in 1940, with American Gates Pomfret (Kent Smith) and lady-of-the-house Lesley Trimble (Ruth Warrick) surveying the bombed-out manor, and exulting over the fact that the portrait of the home's founder, Adm. Eustace Trimble (Smith), has remained intact -- symbolic proof of England's durability in its darkest hours. The huge cast includes Dame May Whitty, Edward Everett Horton, Wendy Barrie, Merle Oberon, Nigel Bruce, Richard Haydn, Donald Crisp, and a host of others -- some appearing in sizeable roles, others (like Arthur Treacher and Patric Knowles) willingly accepting one-scene bits, simply to participate in the undertaking. Seven directors and 21 writers were also swept up in the project. Forever and a Day was supposed to have been withdrawn from circulation after the war and its prints destroyed so that no one could profit from what was supposed to have been an act of industry charity. Happily for future generations, prints have survived and are now safely preserved. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- Cedric Hardwicke, Edmund Goulding
- Written By
- Charles Bennett, Lawrence Hazard, Michael Hogan, W.P. Lipscomb, Alice Duer Miller
- Genres
- Drama, Faith & Spirituality, Classics
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Jan 21, 1943 Wide
- On DVD
- Nov 10, 1998
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Cast
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Brian Aherne
as Jim Trimble
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Merle Oberon
as Marjorie
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Ida Lupino
as Jenny Jones
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Gladys Cooper
as Mrs. Henry Barringer
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C. Aubrey Smith
as Adm. Eustace Trimble
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Robert Cummings
as Ned Trimble
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Claude Rains
as Ambrose Pomfret
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Anna Neagle
as Susan Trenchard Trimble
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Roland Young
as Mr. Barringer
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Ray Milland
as Lieut. William Trimble
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Cedric Hardwicke
as Mr. Dabb the Plumber
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Dame May Whitty
as Mrs. Eustace (Lucy) Trimble
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Charles Laughton
as Bellamy Dexter Pomfret's Butler
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Jessie Matthews
as Mildred Trimble-Pomfret
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Herbert Marshall
as Curate
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Ian Hunter
as Dexter Pomfret
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Buster Keaton
as Plumber's Helper
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Nigel Bruce
as Maj. Garrow
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Arthur Treacher
as Sky Watcher (II)
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Edmund Gwenn
as Stubbs
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Halliwell Hobbes
as Doctor
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Montagu Love
as Sir John Bunn
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Patric Knowles
as The Son
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Elsa Lanchester
as Mamie
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Richard Haydn
as Mr. Butcher
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Clyde Cook
as Cabby (II)
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Kent Smith
as Gates Pomfret
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Victor McLaglen
as Archibald Spavin
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Ruth Warrick
as Lesley Trimble
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Gene Lockhart
as Cobblewick
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Reginald Owen
as Mr. Simpson
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Edward Everett Horton
as Sir Anthony Trimble-Pomfret
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Donald Crisp
as Capt. Martin
- Connie Leon
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Billy Bevan
as Cabby
- Aubrey Mather
- Barbara Everest
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Ben Webster
as Vicar
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Alan Edmiston
as Tripp
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Alec Craig
as Ambrose Pomfret's Butler
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Daphne Moore
as Nurse
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Cecil Kellaway
as Dinner Guest
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Wendy Barrie
as Edith Trimble-Pomfret
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Eric Blore
as Charles (Sir Anthony's Butler)
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Walter Kingsford
as Estate Lawyer
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Una O'Connor
as Mrs. Caroline Ismay
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Ivan Simpson
as Elderly Bachelor
- Doreen Monroe
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Joy Harrington
as Bus Conductress
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Ethel Griffies
as Wife
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Stuart Robertson
as Lawyer/Air Raid Warden
- Charles Irwin
- Arthur Mulliner
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May Beatty
as Cook
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Harry Allen
as Cockney Watcher
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June Lockhart
as Girl in Air Raid Shelter
- Gerald Oliver Smith
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Claud Allister
as Barstow
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Helena Pickard
as Maid
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Clifford Severn
as Nelson Trimble
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Anna Lee
as Cornelia Trimble-Pomfret
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June Duprez
as Julia Trimble-Pomfret
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Odette Myrtil
as Madame Gaby
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Emily Fitzroy
as Mrs. Fulcher
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Anita Bolster
as Mrs. Garrow
- Pax Walker
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Jean Prescott
as ATS Girl
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Sara Allgood
as Cook in 1917
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Lionel Belmore
as Bits
- Evelyn Beresford
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Lydia Bilbrook
as Mother
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Ray Bolger
as Sentry
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Bill Cartledge
as Telegraph Boy
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Charles Coburn
as Sir William
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Robert Coote
as Blind Officer
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Ernest Cossart
as Mr. Blinkinsep
- Kay Deslys
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Isobel Elsom
as Lady Trimble-Pomfret
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Herbert Evans
as Bobby
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Reginald Gardiner
as Ass't. Hotel Manager
- Mary Gordon
- Stuart Hall
- Gerald Hamer
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Lumsden Hare
as Fitch
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Dennis Hoey
as Mover
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Queenie Leonard
as Housemaid
- Doris Lloyd
- Moyna MacGill
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Noel Madison
as Mr. Dunkinfield
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Mickey Martin
as Boy
- Barry Norton
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Bernie Sell
as Naval Officer
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Peter Godfrey
as Mr. Pepperdish
- Edmund Goulding
- Victor Saville
- Herbert Wilcox
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Philip Ahlm
as Card Player
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Vangie Beilby
as Woman Drunk
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Gabriel Canzona
as Man with Monkey
- Frank Lloyd
- Charlie Hall
